Winter Garden to continue discussions on proposed stadium, residential development

The Winter Garden City Commission approved a letter of intent to continue conversations and negotiations with Federal Finance about the potential development for a professional soccer stadium and more.

The commission approved the letter of intent 4-1, with Commissioner Lisa Bennett dissenting, during its meeting on Thursday, March 27. The letter of intent is non-binding. 

The proposed development includes an open-air professional soccer stadium that would seat 5,000 people, a 60-key hotel with convention space, townhomes, multi-family apartments, senior housing or an educational facility, flex recreational fields, public park amenities that includes a dog park, trails and more. 

Marc Hutchinson, the economic development director for the city of Winter Garden, said the estimated investment for the proposed project development is more than $300 million. 

The development would be of the Strates Property, which is located on about 70 acres located at 1500 and 1700 E. Plant St. 

State of the property

The property currently is vacant with an Orange County tax code of agricultural because of cows currently grazing on the land, but its future land use zoning entitles it to be developed into more.

It has a future land use designation of Multi-Use Development, which allows a commercial floor ratio of .5 and up to two with a development bonus, up to eight dwelling units per acre by right and up to 30 with a development bonus. The height of buildings can be up to five stories tall.  

The Strates Property is zoned C-2 Arterial Commercial District, which allows a wide range of permitted commercial uses including retail, hotel, restaurants, offices, recreation and entertainment and upper-story residential. It also allows special-exception uses such as fast food restaurants and drive-thrus, auto sales facilities, gas stations and warehouses. 

The property also falls under the city’s Plant Street Character Area Overlay, which requires all new development to be pedestrian oriented with the commercial buildings located close to the road, fronting on wide sidewalks and multi-use trails. 

“The goal of the development along East Plant Street is to generate the same type of vibrancy and pedestrian activity that we have here downtown on West Plant Street,” said Kelly Carson, the planning director for the city of Winter Garden. 

Potential benefits to the community

Carson said although the city has received numerous development proposals that ranged in density and intensity for the property in recent years, none of the proposals had any direct public benefits for Winter Garden residents. 

According to the letter of intent from Federal Finance & Federal Sports Alliance, the project is “expected to create jobs, provide affordable housing, enhance public spaces and boost economic activity within” Winter Garden and West Orange County. 

Hutchinson said although the economic and community benefits would need to further be evaluated, the proposal could result in city-owned and managed and publicly accessible sports fields, including soccer and baseball practice fields, as well as city-owned and managed and publicly accessible sports courts, such as pickleball and padel courts. 

There could be additional city park space amenities, such as a waterfront plaza and new expanded bike trails and multi-modal paths that will somehow give the ability to connect to the West Orange Trail. 

The proposed development could provide an increase in stormwater management capacity for the entire Historic East Winter Garden Neighborhood area as well as provide opportunities for new senior affordable housing or an educational facility for the public.

Hutchinson said there would be increased employment opportunities for local residents, particularly those in the Historic East Winter Garden Neighborhood. 

“At this stage, we can see potential for a number of permanent and induced jobs, which is really direct and indirect jobs; estimated infusion to the local domestic product; estimated effects on a unique mixed-use ecosystem, bringing commercial energy to the economic base,” Hutchinson said. 

Hutchinson said the development also could result in an estimated increase in the number of visitors to the area as well as the related spending that comes with more visitors to the Plant Street area and spillover effects into downtown Winter Garden. 

The next step is for Federal Finance and Federal Sports Alliance and the property owner to negotiate agreements, outline responsibilities and address any additional requirements for consideration regarding the proposed development. 

Mixed reactions

After hearing about the proposed development, Mayor John Rees kicked off the discussion on the proposal.

“From my perspective, we’re a long way from any agreement,” Rees said. 

Rees said the city would need to explore what the city-owned property would be, what would be able to be used for the city’s recreational purposes, the investment from the city, impact fees and whether Federal Finance and Federal Sports Alliance would ask to reduce them, and more. 

“It’s a conversation, and I’m OK with a conversation,” Rees said. “I kind of always have been anit-high-density apartments. We would all love it to stay with the cows on it, but that’s not going to happen.”

Commissioners Chloe Johnson, Iliana R. Jones and Colin Sharman agreed. 

Jones said to accommodate residents’ desires, benefits for the community and the developer’s needs, there needs to be conversation. 

“By doing the letter of intent, this is the opportunity to talk about it, and it doesn’t mean that we have to agree or construct anything,” Jones said. “We all have to reflect. I feel the opening the doors to communicate and go back and forth is good.”

Sharman said the meeting felt like déjà vu. He recalled being a Winter Garden resident unhappy with the potential development of Winter Garden Village in 2006. He said it was a year-and-half process to reach a compromise that was best for all involved. Similarly, the city only can have residents’ and commissioners’ questions answered if the city continues to talk to the developer with the potential to compromise. 

“We are so far away from where the city would even come forward with anything, because we have to have a discussion,” Sharman said. 

Residents spoke against the project, citing complaints of increased traffic and noise. Residents said they acknowledge the need for development and growth, but this project is not the right fit for Winter Garden.

Heather Fraga, a fourth-generation Winter Garden resident, said Winter Garden is “not the sleepy, little town” it used to be as it has become a household name in Central Florida.

“Our infrastructure is at capacity, specifically the (State Road) 429 and even our little tiny stretch of the (Florida’s) Turnpike, you’re looking at 20 to 30 minutes on your commute in the morning and in the afternoon, so I don’t see how we can feasibly add in a large stadium with 5,000 seats and a five-story hotel, not to mention the shops and restaurants,” Fraga said. “I hope that our sweet, little town stays intact.”

Fraga said dealing with noise from large events a few times per year is agreeable but a few times per week “would definitely be a nuisance.”

Winter Garden’s Gretchen Tope said her main concern is the affordable housing residents previously hoped to have for the Historic East Winter Garden Neighborhood. 

“This doesn’t sound like it’s going to include homes for the families in the east side that have been looking forward to this,” she said. “That’s one of our responsibilities as a whole. We are no longer east and west. We are one Winter Garden.”

Winter Garden’s Allison Painter said the city doesn’t need a 5,000-seat stadium. 

“You might be able to take that down to Lake Nona, where they have plenty of land down there, or anywhere else in the east side of Orange County, they have gobs of land down there,” she said. “I don’t see this project being what it is as of this right here. I would, if I could, vote against it.”

Winter Garden’s Janine Wilson questioned how it was expected to fill a 5,000-seat stadium when Orlando City can’t fill Inter&Co Stadium, which seats about 25,500. 

Doug Laman, owner of G I L Inc., owns commercial property on East Plant Street and said he’s worked with city staff on development in the past. He said he has confidence in staff’s ability to work diligently on ensuring what is developed is in the best interest of the community. 

“Obviously, I would have a financial gain, probably, if this 70 acres was developed and developed very nicely, so I would support at least a letter of intent to the city to discuss this,” Laman said. “To just turn it off and say no straight, 'You can’t ever do anything with the 70 acres,' I think would be a mistake, and it would keep other interested parties away from trying to do something here in the city of Winter Garden. … There’s nothing wrong with talking.”

Winter Garden’s Lauren Flemister said there needs to be a “happy medium.” She said some portions of the proposal were nice, such as the trails, dog park and recreational opportunities for the community, but a stadium would cause too much traffic. 

“I’d rather have the cows, but I know that’s not going to happen, but some of the ideas they had were good, like the recreation for the community, but maybe not the 5,000-seat stadium,” Flemister said. “If we could find a happy medium, maybe get rid of some things, add some nicer things … that the community can use without shipping in a bunch of other traffic that we can’t use, … then I might be for it. Otherwise, I’d be against it.”

Besides moving forward with discussions between the city and the developer, Rees proposed staff look into potentially having a referendum for a recreational fee so the city can own and manage recreational fields and courts for the public. 

Sharman, with the support of the commission, directed city staff to look into the cost of purchasing the Strates Property and the logistics of having a referendum.